As the title suggests, Dr. Thakur's work is primarily a study of the ethical and moral aspect of the two great traditions with which he is intimately acquainted, since he is a Hindu who has lived and taught in the West.
He maintains that it is now time "to start a dialogue between these two religions", and that "it must be ethics and morality... that should receive attention first", the chief reason for this choice being that it is in this field that lack of understanding and the presence of prejudice is most noticeable and that while it is possible to have a system of ethics divorced from religion, the converse would be untenable.
The author makes no attempt to establish the superiority of either religion over the other, his assessment being absolutely fair and objective. He asks fundamental questions related to philosophical ethics and then answers them in Hindu and Christian terms, comparing and contrasting the results.
Although there are frequent references to the Scriptures of both traditions, the main authorities quoted are the great scholars in Hindu and Christian thought, but the work is one of comparative philosophy rather than comparative theology. A basic knowledge of Hindu and Christian terminology is presupposed.
The creation myths of the two faiths are considered and contrasted. In the Christian account, based on Genesis, God created the manifest world out of nothing and, therefore, "is the sole and sufficient cause of the world": this implies man's absolute dependence on God. Hinduism, on the other hand, has several creation stories, in which God either manipulates existing elements, or all evolves from the primordial Prakriti, or, as in the Rig Veda myth, it emanates from the self-immolation of Primordial Man, Purusa. Creation ex nihilo does not occur, though in theistic Hinduism man and the world are completely dependent on God. The moral implication in both religions is thus that "we ought to behave as guests, borrowers, or even servants, rather than as owners who have a right to do what they like with their own". Taking Hinduism in the more popular form influenced by Ramanuja, in which God is the moral ideal, then both religions have it in common that man's duty is to imitate the divine attributes. In Hinduism this is to ascribe certain qualities to God and to follow them in the personal life, in Christianity it is the 'imitatio Christi'.
Examining the claim to any exclusive virtues, Dr. Thakur comes to the conclusion that there is no particular quality or property in either religion to which exclusiveness can be attributed, there are certain eternal and universal virtues traditional to both, though where the two faiths part company morally is in the Christian doctrine of Original Sin and its more extreme form in Total Corruption. While the Christian idea of sin expresses a "personal sense of shame before God", Hinduism regards sin as an infringement of the transcendent 'rita', which the Gods protect, or as "the violation of the divinely ordained Law (Dharma)". In Christianity God's grace is necessary for redemption from sin, in Hinduism the soul's choice "between good and evil is entirely its own" and any inheritance of sin "does not come down from a remote ancestor, but from one's own previous life".
In conclusion the points of similarity are recapitulated and it is noted that the system of ethics in both traditions is "characterized by a remarkable catholicity and comprehensiveness... both are committed to a high notion of the potential greatness of man; both believe in a transcendental and spiritual destiny for man which... make ethics an indispensable step in the realization of this final destiny". However, similarities of approach do not mean that "the two systems are identical, and, therefore, interchangeable... In spite of similarities the two remain distinct and independent, and it would be vain and pretentious for either to claim to take the other's place".
ayain Islam, a “sign” or “mark” of Allah’s existence or power, especially a miracle; also refers to a "verse" of the Koran
(more..) ideain non-technical use the term refers to the visual aspect of anything; for Plato and Platonists, it is the highest noetic entity, the eternal unchanging Form, the archetype of the manifested material thing; in Plato,
idea is a synonim of
eidos, but in Neoplatonism these two terms have a slightly different meaning.
(more..) Maya "artifice, illusion"; in
Advaita Vedānta, the beguiling concealment of
Brahma in the form or under the appearance of a lower reality.
(more..) philosophylove of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic
philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;
philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is
prote philosophia, or
theologike, but philosophy as
theoria means dedication to the
bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal
askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (
Phaed.67cd); the Platonic
philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) Amida BuddhaThe Buddha of Eternal Life and Infinite Light; according to the Pure Land teaching the Buddha who has established the way to Enlightenment for ordinary people; based on his forty-eight Vows and the recitation of his name
Namu-Amida-Butsu one expresses devotion and gratitude.
(more..) birth in the Pure Land"Symbolic expression for the transcendence of delusion. While such a birth was thought to come after death in traditional Pure Land thought, Shinran spoke of its realization here and now; for example he states, ‘although my defiled body remains in
samsara, my mind and heart play in the Pure Land.’" ( Taitetsu Unno, taken from his Key Terms of Shin Buddhism, in the essay (contained in this volume) entitled, "The Practice of Jodo-shinshu.")
(more..) BodhisattvaLiterally, "enlightenment-being;" in
Mahāyāna Buddhism, one who postpones his own final enlightenment and entry into
Nirvāṇa in order to aid all other sentient beings in their quest for Buddhahood.
(more..) HonenFounder of the independent school of Pure Land (
Jodo) Buddhism in Japan. He maintained that the traditional monastic practices were not effective in the Last Age (
mappo) nor universal for all people, as intended by Amida’s Vow. He incurred opposition from the establishment Buddhism and went into exile with several disciples, including Shinran. His major treatise, which was a manifesto of his teaching, was
Senchaku hongan nembutsu shu (
Treatise on the Nembutsu of the Select Primal Vow, abbreviated to
Senchakushu).
(more..) Jodo(A) Japanese term for "Pure Land." Though all Buddhas have their Pure Lands, the Land of Amida Buddha became the most well-known and desired in China and Japan because of its comprehensive nature, its popular propagation, and its ease of entry through recitation of his Name.
(B) "pure land"; the untainted, transcendent realm created by the Buddha Amida (
Amitabha in Sanskrit), into which his devotees aspire to be born in their next life.
(more..) nembutsu(A) "The practice of reciting
Namu-Amida-Butsu (the Name of Amida) is known as recitative
nembutsu. There is also meditative
nembutsu, which is a method of contemplation.
Nembutsu is used synonymously with
myogo, or the Name." (Unno)
(B) "remembrance or mindfulness of the Buddha," based upon the repeated invocation of his Name; same as
buddhānusmriti in Sanskrit and
nien-fo in Chinese.
(more..) nirvanaIn Buddhism (and Hinduism), ultimate liberation from
samsara (the cycles of rebirths or the flow of cosmic manifestation), resulting in absorption in the Absolute; the extinction of the fires of passion and the resulting, supremely blissful state of liberation from attachment and egoism.
(more..) Pure Land"Translation from the Chinese
ching-t’u (
jodo in Japanese). The term as such is not found in Sanskrit, the closest being the phrase ‘purification of the Buddha Land.’ Shinran describes it as the ‘Land of Immeasurable Light,’ referring not to a place that emanates light, but a realization whenever one is illumined by the light of compassion." (Unno)
(more..) ShinranShinran (1173-1262): attributed founder of the Jodo Shin school of Buddhism.
(more..) sutraLiterally, "thread;" a Hindu or Buddhist sacred text; in Hinduism, any short, aphoristic verse or collection of verses, often elliptical in style; in Buddhism, a collection of the discourses of the Buddha.
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) adam In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) VasubandhuIn Shin Buddhism, the second great teacher in Shinran’s lineage. A major Mahayana teacher who laid the foundation of the Consciousness-Only school. In Pure Land tradition his commentary to the Larger Pure Land Sutra is a central text. To Zen Buddhism, he is the 21st Patriarch. Vasubandhu lived in fourth or fifth century (C.E.) India.
(more..) zazena Japanese word used to describe sitting meditation practiced in Zen Buddhism.
(more..) humanismThe intellectual viewpoint increasingly prevalent in the West since the time of the Renaissance; it replaced the traditional Christian view of God as the center of all things by a belief in man as the measure of all things.
(more..) natura naturansLiterally, “nature naturing”; the active power that constitutes and governs the phenomena of the physical world.
(more..) natura naturataLiterally, “nature natured”; the phenomena of the physical world considered as the effect of an inward and invisible power.
(more..) philosophylove of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic
philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;
philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is
prote philosophia, or
theologike, but philosophy as
theoria means dedication to the
bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal
askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (
Phaed.67cd); the Platonic
philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) psyche(usually transcribed as
psyche): soul; breath of life, life-stuff; Homer distinguishes between a free soul as a soul of the dead, corresponding with
psuche (and still regarded as an
eidolon), and body souls, corresponding with
thumos,
noos and
menos: following the Egyptian theological patterns, the Pythagoreans constituted the
psuche as the reflection of the unchanging and immortal principles; from Plato onwards,
psuchai are no longer regarded as
eidola, phantoms or doubles of the body, but rather the human body is viewed as the perishable
simulacrum of an immaterial and immortal soul; there are different degrees of soul (or different souls), therefore anything that is alive has a soul (Aristotle
De anima 414b32); in
Phaedrus 248b the soul is regarded as something to be a separate, self-moving and immortal entity (cf.Proclus
Elements of Theology 186);
Psuche is the third
hupostasis of Plotinus.
(more..) Radhakrishnan(1888 -1975 C.E.) An eminent Hindu philosopher and a prolific writer, who is known for interpreting Hinduism to the west.
(more..) ratio literally, "calculation"; the faculty of discursive thinking, to be distinguished from
intellectus, "Intellect."
(more..) Vedanta"End or culmination of the
Vedas," a designation for the Upanishads (
Upaniṣāds) as the last portion ("end") of the
Vedas; also one of the six orthodox (
āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy who have their starting point in the texts of the Upanishads (
Upaniṣāds), the
Brahma-Sūtras (of Bādarāyana Vyāsa), and the
Bhagavad Gītā ; over time,
Vedānta crystallized into three distinct schools:
Advaita (non-dualism), associated with Shankara
(ca.788-820 C.E.);
Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism), associated with Rāmānuja
(ca.1055-1137 C.E.); and
Dvaita (dualism), associated with Madhva (ca.1199-1278 C.E.); see "Advaita."
(more..) imam In relation to ritual: he who presides when a number pray together; head of a religious community.
(more..) TalmudLiterally, “learning, study.” In Judaism, the Talmud is a body of writings and traditional commentaries based on the oral law given to Moses on Sinai. It is the foundation of Jewish civil and religious law, second in authority only to the Torah.
(more..) tanzil Designates revelation in the theological sense, i.e. the “descent” of the sacred “Books.”
(more..) Torah "instruction, teaching"; in Judaism, the law of God, as revealed to Moses on Sinai and embodied in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) adam In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) gnosis(A) "knowledge"; spiritual insight, principial comprehension, divine wisdom.
(B) knowledge;
gnosis is contrasted with
doxa (opinion) by Plato; the object of
gnosis is
to on, reality or being, and the fully real is the fully knowable (
Rep.477a); the Egyptian Hermetists made distinction between two types of knowledge: 1) science (
episteme), produced by reason (
logos), and 2)
gnosis, produced by understanding and faith (
Corpus Hermeticum IX); therefore
gnosis is regarded as the goal of
episteme (ibid.X.9); the -idea that one may ‘know God’ (
gnosis theou) is very rare in the classical Hellenic literature, which rather praises
episteme and hieratic vision,
epopteia, but is common in Hermetism, Gnosticism and early Christianity; following the Platonic tradition (especially Plotinus and Porphyry), Augustine introduced a distinction between knowledge and wisdom,
scientia and
sapientia, claiming that the fallen soul knows only
scientia, but before the Fall she knew
sapientia (
De Trinitate XII).
(more..) cit "consciousness"; one of the three essential aspects of
Apara-Brahma, together with
sat, "being," and
ānanda, "bliss, beatitude, joy."
(more..) ideain non-technical use the term refers to the visual aspect of anything; for Plato and Platonists, it is the highest noetic entity, the eternal unchanging Form, the archetype of the manifested material thing; in Plato,
idea is a synonim of
eidos, but in Neoplatonism these two terms have a slightly different meaning.
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) caritasSelfless “love”, as of God for man and man for God; human compassion for one’s neighbor; equivalent of Greek agapē.
(more..) cit "consciousness"; one of the three essential aspects of
Apara-Brahma, together with
sat, "being," and
ānanda, "bliss, beatitude, joy."
(more..) gnosis(A) "knowledge"; spiritual insight, principial comprehension, divine wisdom.
(B) knowledge;
gnosis is contrasted with
doxa (opinion) by Plato; the object of
gnosis is
to on, reality or being, and the fully real is the fully knowable (
Rep.477a); the Egyptian Hermetists made distinction between two types of knowledge: 1) science (
episteme), produced by reason (
logos), and 2)
gnosis, produced by understanding and faith (
Corpus Hermeticum IX); therefore
gnosis is regarded as the goal of
episteme (ibid.X.9); the -idea that one may ‘know God’ (
gnosis theou) is very rare in the classical Hellenic literature, which rather praises
episteme and hieratic vision,
epopteia, but is common in Hermetism, Gnosticism and early Christianity; following the Platonic tradition (especially Plotinus and Porphyry), Augustine introduced a distinction between knowledge and wisdom,
scientia and
sapientia, claiming that the fallen soul knows only
scientia, but before the Fall she knew
sapientia (
De Trinitate XII).
(more..) logos(A) "word, reason"; in Christian theology, the divine, uncreated Word of God (
cf. John 1:1); the transcendent Principle of creation and revelation.
(B) the basic meaning is ‘something said’, ‘account’; the term is used in explanation and definition of some kind of thing, but also means reason, measure, proportion, analogy, word, speech, discourse, discursive reasoning, noetic apprehension of the first principles; the demiurgic
Logos (like the Egyptian
Hu, equated with Thoth, the tongue of Ra, who transforms the Thoughts of the Heart into spoken and written Language, thus creating and articulating the world as a script and icon of the gods) is the intermediary divine power: as an image of the noetic cosmos, the physical cosmos is regarded as a multiple
Logos containing a plurality of individual
logoi (
Enn.IV.3.8.17-22); in Plotinus,
Logos is not a separate
hupostasis, but determines the relation of any
hupostasis to its source and its products, serving as the formative principle from which the lower realities evolve; the external spech (
logos prophorikos) constitutes the external expression of internal thought (
logos endiathetos).(more..) mors janua vitae"death is the gate to life."
(more..) sephirothliterally, "numbers"; in Jewish Kabbalah, the ten emanations of
Ein Sof or divine Infinitude, each comprising a different aspect of creative energy.
(more..) theologydivine science, theology,
logos about the gods, considered to be the essence of
teletai; for Aristotle, a synonim of metaphysics or first philosophy (
prote philosophia) in contrast with physics (
Metaph.1026a18); however, physics (
phusiologia) sometimes is called as a kind of theology (Proclus
In Tim.I.217.25); for Neoplatonists, among the ancient theologians (
theologoi) are Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod and other divinely inspired poets, the creators of theogonies and keepers of sacred rites.
(more..) Torah "instruction, teaching"; in Judaism, the law of God, as revealed to Moses on Sinai and embodied in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) adam In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) vacare Deo literally, "to be empty for God"; to be at leisure for or available to God; in the Christian monastic and contemplative tradition, to set aside time from work for meditation and prayer.
(more..) abd(A) In religious language, designates the worshiper, and, more generally, the creature as dependent on his Lord (
rabb. (B) "servant" or "slave"; as used in Islam, the servant or worshiper of God in His aspect of
Rabb or "Lord".
(more..) sophia(A)wisdom; the term covers all spheres of human activity – all ingenious invention aimed at satisfying one’s material, political and religious needs; Hephaistos (like his prototypes – the Ugaritian Kothar-wa-Hasis and the Egyptian Ptah) is
poluphronos, very wise,
klutometis, renowned in wisdom – here ‘wisdom’ means not simply some divine quality, but wondrous skill, cleverness, technical ability, magic power; in Egypt all sacred wisdom (especially, knowledge of the secret divine names and words of power,
hekau, or demiurgic and theurgic mantras, which are able to restore one’s true divine identity) was under the patronage of Thoth; in classical Greece, the inspird poet, the lawgiver, the polititian, the magician, the natural philosopher and sophist – all claimed to wisdom, and indeed ‘philosophy’ is the love of wisdom,
philo-sophia, i.e. a way of life in effort to achieve wisdom as its goal; the ideal of
sophos (sage) in the newly established Platonic paideia is exemplified by Socrates; in Neoplatonism, the theoretical wisdom (though the term
sophia is rarely used) means contemplation of the eternal Forms and becoming like
nous, or a god; there are the characteristic properties which constitute the divine nature and which spread to all the divine classes: good (
agathotes), wisdom (
sophia) and beauty (
kallos).
(B) "wisdom"; in Jewish and Christian tradition, the Wisdom of God, often conceived as feminine (
cf. Prov. 8).
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) adam In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) Atman the real or true "Self," underlying the ego and its manifestations; in the perspective of
Advaita Vedānta, identical with
Brahma.
(more..) Brahma God in the aspect of Creator, the first divine "person" of the
Trimūrti; to be distinguished from
Brahma, the Supreme Reality.
(more..) karmaaction; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1)
sanchita karma: actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2)
prārabdha karma: actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3)
āgāmi karma :actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future.
(more..) karmaaction; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1)
sanchita karma: actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2)
prārabdha karma: actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3)
āgāmi karma :actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future.
(more..) MurugaThe god whom the Tamils regard as their own, he is the same as Subrahmanya, Skanda (Kanda), Karttikeya or Kumara. (The name means beautiful.) There are many temples to Muruga in the South, some of them built on hills like Pazhani (Palni) and Tiruttani. A considerable section of Tamil hymnal literature is devoted to him of which the Tiruppugazh is particularly famous.
(more..) philosophylove of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic
philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;
philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is
prote philosophia, or
theologike, but philosophy as
theoria means dedication to the
bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal
askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (
Phaed.67cd); the Platonic
philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) yantraIn Sanskrit, literally, “instrument of support”; a geometrical design, often representing the cosmos, used in Tantric Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism as a visual support or focus for meditation.
(more..) Atman the real or true "Self," underlying the ego and its manifestations; in the perspective of
Advaita Vedānta, identical with
Brahma.
(more..) Bhagavad Gita lit. "the Song of the Lord"; a text of primary rank dealing with the converse of
Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu) and the warrior
Arjuna on the battlefield of
Kurukshetra.
(more..) Brahman Brahma considered as transcending all "qualities," attributes, or predicates; God as He is in Himself; also called
Para-Brahma.
(more..) dharmaTruth, Reality, cosmic law, righteousness, virtue.
(more..) ideain non-technical use the term refers to the visual aspect of anything; for Plato and Platonists, it is the highest noetic entity, the eternal unchanging Form, the archetype of the manifested material thing; in Plato,
idea is a synonim of
eidos, but in Neoplatonism these two terms have a slightly different meaning.
(more..) karmaaction; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1)
sanchita karma: actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2)
prārabdha karma: actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3)
āgāmi karma :actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future.
(more..) karmaaction; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1)
sanchita karma: actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2)
prārabdha karma: actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3)
āgāmi karma :actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future.
(more..) logos(A) "word, reason"; in Christian theology, the divine, uncreated Word of God (
cf. John 1:1); the transcendent Principle of creation and revelation.
(B) the basic meaning is ‘something said’, ‘account’; the term is used in explanation and definition of some kind of thing, but also means reason, measure, proportion, analogy, word, speech, discourse, discursive reasoning, noetic apprehension of the first principles; the demiurgic
Logos (like the Egyptian
Hu, equated with Thoth, the tongue of Ra, who transforms the Thoughts of the Heart into spoken and written Language, thus creating and articulating the world as a script and icon of the gods) is the intermediary divine power: as an image of the noetic cosmos, the physical cosmos is regarded as a multiple
Logos containing a plurality of individual
logoi (
Enn.IV.3.8.17-22); in Plotinus,
Logos is not a separate
hupostasis, but determines the relation of any
hupostasis to its source and its products, serving as the formative principle from which the lower realities evolve; the external spech (
logos prophorikos) constitutes the external expression of internal thought (
logos endiathetos).(more..) nirvanaIn Buddhism (and Hinduism), ultimate liberation from
samsara (the cycles of rebirths or the flow of cosmic manifestation), resulting in absorption in the Absolute; the extinction of the fires of passion and the resulting, supremely blissful state of liberation from attachment and egoism.
(more..) philosophylove of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic
philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;
philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is
prote philosophia, or
theologike, but philosophy as
theoria means dedication to the
bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal
askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (
Phaed.67cd); the Platonic
philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) purushaLiterally, "man;" the informing or shaping principle of creation; the "masculine" demiurge or fashioner of the universe; see "Prakriti (
Prakṛti)."
(more..) Radhakrishnan(1888 -1975 C.E.) An eminent Hindu philosopher and a prolific writer, who is known for interpreting Hinduism to the west.
(more..) rajasIn Hinduism, the second of the three
gunas, or cosmic forces that result from creation.
Rajas literally refers to "colored" or "dim" spaces, and is the
guna whose energy is characterized by passion, emotion, variability, urgency, and activity. In the Vedas, the word is also used to designate the division of the world which encompasses the vapors and mists of the atmosphere, and which is below "the ethereal spaces."
(more..) rationalismThe philosophical position that sees reason as the ultimate arbiter of truth. Its origin lies in Descartes’ famous cogito ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am."
(more..) sadhuan ascetic or a sage (in Hinduism). Literally, one who is “accomplished, virtuous, holy”; a person living a life of asceticism, often withdrawn from the world. A pious or holy person, a seer, or a deified saint; a
sannyasi.
(more..) Tradition(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) upanishadAmong the sacred texts of the Hindus, mostly
Upaniṣāds discuss the existence of one absolute Reality known as
Brahman. Much of Hindu
Vedānta derives its inspiration from these texts.
(more..) Vedanta"End or culmination of the
Vedas," a designation for the Upanishads (
Upaniṣāds) as the last portion ("end") of the
Vedas; also one of the six orthodox (
āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy who have their starting point in the texts of the Upanishads (
Upaniṣāds), the
Brahma-Sūtras (of Bādarāyana Vyāsa), and the
Bhagavad Gītā ; over time,
Vedānta crystallized into three distinct schools:
Advaita (non-dualism), associated with Shankara
(ca.788-820 C.E.);
Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism), associated with Rāmānuja
(ca.1055-1137 C.E.); and
Dvaita (dualism), associated with Madhva (ca.1199-1278 C.E.); see "Advaita."
(more..) yogaunion of the jiva with God; method of God-realization (in Hinduism)
(more..) yogia practitioner of yoga (in Hinduism)
(more..) dharmaTruth, Reality, cosmic law, righteousness, virtue.
(more..) ideain non-technical use the term refers to the visual aspect of anything; for Plato and Platonists, it is the highest noetic entity, the eternal unchanging Form, the archetype of the manifested material thing; in Plato,
idea is a synonim of
eidos, but in Neoplatonism these two terms have a slightly different meaning.
(more..) philosophylove of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic
philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;
philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is
prote philosophia, or
theologike, but philosophy as
theoria means dedication to the
bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal
askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (
Phaed.67cd); the Platonic
philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) prakritiLiterally, "making first" (see
materia prima); the fundamental, "feminine" substance or material cause of all things; see "purusha (
puruṣa)
."
(more..) prakritiIn Hinduism, literally, “making first” (see
materia prima); the fundamental, “feminine” substance or material cause of all things; see
guna,
Purusha.
(more..) purusaLiterally, "man;" the informing or shaping principle of creation; the "masculine" demiurge or fashioner of the universe; see "Prakriti (
Prakṛti)."
(more..) RamanujaFounder of the
Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta (qualified non-dualism) was born in Śrīperumbudūr, Tamil Nadu, in 1027.
(more..) theologydivine science, theology,
logos about the gods, considered to be the essence of
teletai; for Aristotle, a synonim of metaphysics or first philosophy (
prote philosophia) in contrast with physics (
Metaph.1026a18); however, physics (
phusiologia) sometimes is called as a kind of theology (Proclus
In Tim.I.217.25); for Neoplatonists, among the ancient theologians (
theologoi) are Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod and other divinely inspired poets, the creators of theogonies and keepers of sacred rites.
(more..) VedaThe sacred scriptures of Hinduism; regarded by the orthodox (
āstika) as divine revelation (
śruti) and comprising: (1) the
Ṛg,
Sāma, Yajur, and
Atharva Saṃhitās (collections of hymns); (2) the
Brāhmanas (priestly treatises); (3) the
Āranyakas (forest treatises); and (4) the
Upaniṣāds (philosophical and mystical treatises); they are divided into a
karma-kāṇḍa portion dealing with ritual action and a
jñāna-kāṇḍa portion dealing with knowledge.
(more..)